Neurotribes
I'm listening to Neurotribes
by Steve Silberman and Oliver Sacks. It is a history of the treatment of autism and how to approach autism. It is providing pretty disturbing reading. in the past, autistic children were seen as needing "cures" using everything from diets that help your gut to behavioral modification to bleach enemas...in 2018.
Autism is not a disease. it is a different state that seems to have gained a lot of stigma through an unfortunate mix of being mistaken for mental illness, causing autistic people to find it difficult to communicate verbally with others, if they want to at all and being labelled the result of having vaccinations or unloving mothers.
In reality, autism may have been a great advantage for lone hunter gatherers in prehistoric times as they could cope well with being alone in the wild and focus intensely on the craft of wilderness survival.
In modern times, autism can help with many professions that require attention to detail and focus, such as programming and engineering. Israel even has a military intelligence unit composed of autistic people.
Autism does not need to be cured. It needs to be understood and it is the responsibility of everyone to make sure that we can show our acceptance of people with autism.